Hi Everyone,I'm nervous about this because I'm a very inexperienced hostess and have never held a real party or a gathering at my home before. I'd like to invite my class to my apartment for my birthday, but am not sure exactly how to encourage people to attend. I want the gathering to be quiet and relaxed. Based on their schedules, not everyone is able to come at the same time so I want to be flexible.

I'm a lifelong introvert and my class is currently dispersed in various job placements, so I'd like to have a low-key, drop-in gathering. We have a Facebook group that we usually use for group communications, and I plan to post the following:

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"I'd like to invite everybody to my place for a birthday get-together this Saturday night. Since we all have such crazy schedules, this will be on a drop-in basis and you are welcome to come by anytime between between 5pm and 11pm. I'm supplying cake, pizza, pop and snacks. BYOB. We could watch some DVD movies (sorry, I don't have cable) or just sit and chat. If you'd like to jam (play music) you are also welcome to borrow my acoustic guitar or to bring your own instrument.

My address is 12345 XXX Avenue, Building # A1, apartment 247." (Note: my location is somewhat difficult to find from just the street address - should I include more detailed directions and/or a map link?)

Nothing is required. I just want to return some of the hospitality that many of you have extended to me this past year. If you can drop by I'd love to see you there!"

I'm anxious about pressing the "Send" button and secretly thinking "What is they think I'm a loser to announce my own birthday? What if nobody shows up? What if everyone's bored to death? What if it's incredibly awkward?". So I'd like to hear your opinion - is this the type of invitation that you'd be likely to respond to? Does it sound like a gathering that you'd enjoy? Is there anything that you'd advise me to say or do differently?

I think it's a great invitation. Yes, I'd include a map link. The only question I have--do you want to announce it's your birthday ahead of time? Do you want people to bring you gifts? Or are you hoping they won't feel obligated to do so? In that case, I'd skip the mention and just provide cake and mention it when most people are there if they ask. And as a fellow introvert and nervous party planner, it does get easier as you do it more and more. Good luck and happy birthday!

Come celebrate my birthday with me on Saturday night. Come by anytime between 5 & 11pm. Pizza, snacks, pop and cake provided, but BYOB for anything else. If you play an instrument you are welcome to bring it as a jam session may occur based on interest.

I agree you should take out the word "birthday" and don't apologize for not having cable. Otherwise its a great invite! Looks totally normal (and sounds fun!)

And while there is disagreement, I for one think its awesome for adults to host their birthday parties, in exactly the way you are doing. Have fun!

And here's a few party tips since you are inexperienced:

Start making ice now. make a tray or two, and dump into a bag or bowl and store in the freezer, repeat daily. You can never have too much ice at a party, but you can definitely not have enough.

Put snacks in various places throughout the room, like one bowl on the coffee table, one on an end table, etc not all on one big table. This encourages people to sit around the room in different places. You can always move them if you find people in one area are eating more.

Put drinks on a totally different table then food. Again this encourages movement.

When tidying up, if you have a big box, stuff things you can't find a good discreet home for in the box. Top with a board (or flip the box over) and then cover the whole thing with a pretty piece of fabric - voila! Storage and an extra table for drinks!

Have a plan where you want people to put their bags (and coats if its coat weather in your area).

A super cheap fun way to decorate: colored lights. String colored holiday lights around or even just get some colored light bulbs and put them in your lamps. Remember red, orange and pink are flattering and make people look more attractive, blue and green are not flattering, stay away from those colors. A red silk scarf draped over a lamp can also give this effect and looks nice.

Just make absolutely sure that the group is private/closed or don't share your address details in the post so that other people outside your class can see them and decide to show up. In my circles, the address details is usually shared by "mass" PM separately or to the people who respond that they're interested in coming.

If this is all on FB and these people are all your FB friends, they'll know your birthday is coming up (or at least when it hits). If you're wanting to make this more about hanging out and celebrating your friends, there's really no need to bring up the birthday part. Keep the cake in, and if people ask about it you can always mention it once they get there. That way there's no awkwardness over not bringing something.

Also, there's no need to apologize for not having cable. There's enough people that don't have cable that it's not assumed to be at every house all the time. By all means, mention the DVDs or chatting or a jam session, but I've always thought it was nicer for people to just not bring up what they don't have rather than apologize for it.

I agree with making the ice now. It's always good to have plenty. And if you're not sure if you'll have enough, most grocery stores where I am have bags of ice for fairly inexpensive. You can grab one last minute if you need one, and then not have to worry about your ice trays at home for a while until it's gone.

Have a good time, most of all. It's all well and good to be nervous (I sure was for my birthday gathering a few weeks ago), but it all turned out well and I had a blast.